Mystic Worlds

EQ2 could be my future, Allods is a keeper, ROM back on the menu and STO on hold.

In another 18 months EQ2 might be home

News is in, EQ2 is adding Battlegrounds.  At this rate, in another year or so, EQ2 will probably have most of what I want for my main-stay MMO.  I'm not being sarcastic either. If the game continues adding in the things I enjoy, the fact that I don't like the questing system will become increasingly over shadowed.  I can't run back to a subscription at this point because the PVP is for max level characters only.  Boo!  Besides which, they need to get through the PVP issues nerfing PVE skills, class balancing, crowd control whining and twink drama that have plagued WOW BGs since forever.  Yeah, I'll skip the initial onslaught of teeth gnashing and QQ.  Grats EQ2!

I canceled my STO pre-order

As much as I enjoy being there with the opening day masses, another week of the BETA left me feeling more uneasy about the game's future. In the past couple of years, I've bought too many games that I was sincerely excited about but didn't last long after the 30 days that came with the box, to go with the lower percentage of lasting past the 30 days, for a game that I'm only marginally enthused over. 

The 180 on the skill cap mechanic was the tipping point for two reasons.  First - class skill tree design in a game with infinite skill points is VERY different from a game DESIGNED FOR FINITE SKILL POINTS.  From what I can tell, the decision has changed without an overhaul and/or thorough review AND TESTING of impact.  You won't know how gimped the situation is until nearer to max level.  Second - Skill, attribute and item descriptions are so poor, it's hard to know if you're even making the right choices for your class, role and spec.  Poor documentation is tolerable when you have an infinite supply of skill points to spend but unacceptable when you don't.

Star Trek Online - Does Randomly Generated Content Get Stale?

I don't know if the randomly generated mission zones will become stale over time.  Right now, they're anything but.  I find the space combat very white-knuckle.  The over powered NPCs in the space combat missions is what makes my heart race.  Like W101, the content scales based on the number of participants.  However, you're always out numbered and flying noob ships against NPC cruisers is a battle.  You go in knowing that you're outclassed and out-gunned.  The question is, what are you going to do about it? 

Some groups know how to handle the situation and we complete the mission with no deaths.  Other groups struggle and ships get popped left, right and center until they stop charging in alone and let someone else get things going.  In either case, no one is communicating in chat, myself included.  Action trumps words and the players who have a clue about to do go for it. 

In a recent "State of the Game" letter to the players, the Alpha strike behavior of the NPCs has been deemed unintentional and will be fixed before release.  I hope they don't tone them down too much.  It's space.  It's war.  Shit - err, death happens in space.  So far there's no death penalty so I don't see what the problem is anyway.  With a DP that isn't lose your ship and it's gone permanently, I'd rather have exciting over-powered NPCs, instead of easy encounters that we'll be repeating.

I WISH I'd thought to record the mission previous to this one.  OMG, what an insane ride.  I'm damaged spec'd but acting as a tank in many groups and doing pulls when no one else seems up to the job.  I definitely won't go DPS for Live.  So far, I'm liking the tank role in space even though I've never wanted to tank in other games.  I'd like to try out the science/support ship role too.

It's also exciting to realize that I'll be able to play with anyone without worrying about what server people created there characters on.  I don't know how easy it will be reality, to get together with people you know.  For all I know the tools in place to facilitate such grouping might be inadequate or crude.  But at least the whole rick-roll of starting over to get on the right server with friends and acquaintances won't exist.

Star Trek Online Open Beta
Noob in Space - Lowbie PVE Mission

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The Rise of Coop-Play Styled MMOs

Personal definition of a MMO gaming experience
When I think MMO, I think of an open minimally instanced virtual world where players co-exist with infinite opportunities to interact with each other while carrying out game objectives.  Everyone that is on the same server, and in the same zone, is in the ONLY version of that zone.  And while existing within that world, the primary use of transitions (load screens) is for changing zones or entering into dungeons for group content.  This is what I consider the best case scenario.  I’ve only played three MMOs that came close to this ideal - Asheron’s Call 2, EVE Online and World of Warcraft.

I’ve come to accept other divides in virtual content that require the immersion wrecking load-screens, such as, the way EQ2 zones you into the different sections of a city, crafting workshops and instanced player housing.  Other games zone you into structures they expect may be heavily populated.  I can live with these sub-divisions of content.  But make no mistake, I’m never entertained while watching load screens.

Star Trek Online – They may have something here

Returning to the unrelenting soul-sucking grind that is my career has me back to a schedule with little game time.  I’ve hung up my Allods hat until the game releases.  I played enough to know that I want to see more, and that the Empire quests were more inspired in my opinion, than the League side.  I will forgo my preference for running around shire-like zones and instead play the urban steampunk theme of Empire.  In this particular game, my options were a win-win anyway.  The League-side had a few too many kill x critters in the woods type quests that got boring really fast.

The time that I have had since the 2009 holiday season ended has been spent playing the Star Trek Online BETA.  This game wasn’t anywhere on my radar.  I wasn’t going to bother with the BETA or the live game.  A conversation about the game with Tipa from West Karana piqued my interest so I decided to give it a try.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about the game other than, they may have something here.  It’s not the open world MMO design I prefer playing.  The ever present instancing and zoning knock immersion upside the head every few minutes – much how I felt about Pirates of the Burning Sea(PotBS).  However, being a semi Star Trek fan, those annoyances are somewhat offset by the IP.  I’m a fan of the original series.  As a child, friends and I would set up my bedroom as deck of the USS Enterprise, while acting out skits I wrote.  I guess that makes me a fan.  I’m not however,  the card-carrying I-know-the-races-and-political-history of that IP.  I’m more the, enjoyed the story as a backdrop for other sorts of adventures and possibilities.  I liked the story and where it allowed me to take my own imagination.  We’ll come back to “story in games” in another post soon.

Allods CBT Round up and My Top 10 Useful Tips

I’m on my way to my 8th character in the Allods Closed Test BETA.  Each character went from levels 1 to 15; except for the most recent re-roll which just reached level 9.  I don’t play BETAs to see as much content as possible.  I participate in the BETA to experiment and test what I can in the zones I reach.  I prefer to have the game remain new and undiscovered for launch.

During a BETA I spend most of my time trying out the different classes.  What sounds like a good fit for me on paper often doesn’t translate to my personal play style.  I don’t like re-rolling during the live game so I prefer to investigate and work out kinks in the BETA.  Beyond the classes, the BETA is when I’ll know if I enjoy the rendering of that particular setting, the questing system/mechanics, crafting, PVP, etc.  My goal is to answer the very fundamental question of, “On the surface, is this game for me?”  I can’t decide on a long term commitment seeing so little.  However, I can identify a non-starter, as for as my personal preferences are concerned.  Allods meets my criteria for at least trying the “live” version of the game.  My MEx5 meter is at MEx3.

PLUSES

• Two VERY different faction zones – one is high fantasy while the other is steampunk
• Interesting twists to the classes
• Engaging back-story
• Promising PVP – hopefully not too punishing.  My days of, “Grrr – I’m l33t have come and gone.”
• Anticipation of Astral flight, exploration and combat being half-way decent. 

Playing Allods EU CBT - My Holiday Fun is Ending

If the PVP is decent, I expect Allods to do well.  It should at least be as popular as Wizard101.  Thus far, Allods has a solid PVE game.  The background story is entertaining.  The quest objectives used to tell the story are varied with comical twists and puns interspersed - milking horses (I don’t want to know why the doctors need this milk), putting hidden cameras in the nurse’s quarters, carrying injured Goblins, bugging the apartments of rogue scientists, escorting drunks, etc.  The one that sent me to beat up POWs raised an eyebrow but I went along for the ride. No, there’s nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking about the mechanics yet I had fun.

For me, Allods shines most brightly in two areas.  The classes are nicely done.  Out of the eight unique archetypes, three are hybrids. Two have an unusual mechanic I’ve not seen before.  There’s the Pscionist that requires a mind-link to utilize potent skills while mitigating damage via a body double.   And Gibbering, the three-bodied-avatar where the three parts execute different moves in combat.  Also Mages balance risk vs. reward of spamming the same spells repeatedly.  Summoners, more aptly called Necromancers in the Russian version, build and consume blood drops.  Combined, these tweaks and twists are a refreshing deviation from the norm.